Multiple students aware of gun at school

Wednesday

Multiple Holland Patent High School students saw a handgun in school or were aware of its presence Monday morning, school officials said Tuesday.

Multiple Holland Patent High School students saw a handgun in school or were aware of its presence Monday morning, school officials said Tuesday.

“We have several reports that students knew of it or saw it,” Superintendent Kathleen Davis said. “At this point, I can’t say it’s a specific location.”

Yet it wasn’t until around 11 a.m. when students were boarding a bus for BOCES that a student notified a teacher, Davis said.

Administrators called two students off the bus, one of whom had brought the gun to school and left it in a bus seat, police and school officials said.

At that point, another student picked up the gun and shot it intentionally into the seat in front of him, police said.

The bullet passed between students sitting in that seat before striking the seat in front of them, sheriff’s Capt. Richard Antanavige said Tuesday.

School officials are now piecing together the details of how the incident unfolded and should have a more complete account by Friday, Davis said.

“You have to weed out what’s accurate and not accurate, too,” Davis said.

Two students have been charged in connection with the incident, which did not injure anyone.

Mathew T. Heinig, 17, of East Floyd Road in Rome, is accused of firing the gun, Antanavige said. Investigators believe James J. Ranaudo, 16, of Steuben Valley Road in Holland Patent, brought the gun to school.

A number of questions remain unanswered:

* Why didn’t someone report the presence of the gun sooner?

* Where was the student who reported the gun’s presence? In school or on the bus?

* Who was the second person pulled off the bus with Ranaudo?

* What prompted the suspect to shoot the gun?

Backpacks Searched

Davis did not know the exact time the student reported the gun to a teacher, but said that teacher immediately told an administrator, who then immediately pulled the two students off the bus.

She would not comment on how the second student was connected to the incident.

School staff searched the backpacks of those students but didn’t find the gun, she said.

“Allegedly, the student that was removed from the bus stashed it in the seat,” she said.

The identities of the student who reported the gun and of the students who were in the seat the bullet passed through could not be learned Tuesday.

Junior Jaime Sweet said Monday the bullet hit the back of the bus seat she was sitting in.

“I was the first person off the bus,” Sweet said Monday.

About 30 students were on the bus when the shot was fired, school officials said.
Counseling is available for all students and staff members, Davis said.

“This issue is pretty horrifying for any school district,” Davis said. “Having a gun on school property is a really egregious situation. We want to keep our students safe and we want to make sure our students are communicating with us if they know such information.”

Davis will meet with the parents of the charged students next week to discuss the situation, she said.

Heinig is charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment, while Ranaudo is charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Both youths are due to face a felony hearing Friday afternoon in Oriskany Village Court.

They were arraigned Monday at the home of Oriskany Village Justice Richard Montgomery. Bail was set at $25,000 each, and the youths were taken to Oneida County jail, Montgomery said.

‘Wasn’t an Accident’

Antanavige would not say if Heinig knew the gun was loaded, nor would Antanavige say how many bullets had been in the gun.

Although investigators believe Heinig intentionally fired the weapon, it is not clear if he believed it would go off or not, Antanavige said.

“It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t unintentional,” he said. “It was aimed directly at the seat in front of him.”

Investigators believe they know where Ranaudo got the gun, but Antanavige would not disclose that information until they know for sure, he said.